Indicator face



Dem, 10, 1935. B Q MUSE, JR 2,@23,934

I INDICATOR FACE Filed April 30, 1935 [Mei 6607':

19/5 fii a/weg Patented Dec. 10, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 4 Claims.

This invention relates to indicator faces such as are used for clocks and various other instruments employing two or more pointers, or hands, and from which it is often desirable to take readings in the dark.

Indicator faces of the type referred to are frequently provided with luminous indicia in an effort to make them readable in the absence of light, but due to the efllorescent emanations of the luminous coatings which blur and confuse the outlines and relations of length, it is difficult to distinguish between the hands or pointers. This difficulty is general in reading in the dark of all indicator instrument faces having two or more hands and the difficulty increases as the size of the instrument face decreases. In addition to this difficulty, the luminous material used on the indicia must be rather expensive if even fair results are to be obtained, and this is prohibitive in the manufacture of inexpensive instruments.

It is among the objects of the present invention to provide a novel indicator face which will enable the easy reading of instruments of the type described in total darkness, and from a substantial distance.

Another object is the provision of a novel indicator face which is not only very efficient in use but one which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture.

The foregoing and further objects will be apparent after referring to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is an elevation of an embodiment of the device of the invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on the line IIII of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an elevation of a modification.

Figure 4 is an elevation of another modification.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, the numeral 2 designates a substantially diskshaped indicator dial which is provided with a continuous circumferential ring, or border, 3 of luminous material. This circumferential ring, or border, 3 is provided with a series of inwardly extending luminous indicia 5 in the form of small rectangles which are intended, by way of example, to represent the hour markings of a clock face. One of the pointers, or hands, of the in strument is indicated at B and is coated on substantially its entire outer face with luminous material, as at 1.

According to a preferred embodiment, the hand 6 represents the hour-hand of the clock previously mentioned. In this embodiment the minutehand is generally shown at 8 as comprising a transparent segment, or body portion, carrying on its radial extremity a non-luminous element 9. The minute-hand 8 is extended sufficiently to dispose the non-luminous element 9 over the 5 luminous circumferential ring, or border, 3 and mask successive portions of the latter in its travel thereover. The construction and arrangement of the hands 6 and 8 provides a very efficient combination with the indicator dial 2 with the result 10 that an alarm clock, for instance, may be easily read at a considerable distance in a darkened room. That is to say, in most indicator faces for use on instruments employing two or more hands,

it is very hard to distinguish between them, due 5 to the fact that they are of substantially the same size and luminosity.

In the deviceof the present invention, however, the hand 6, being luminous, can be readily identified as the hour-hand, while the hand 8, being non-luminous, can be readily contrasted thereto because of its non-luminous masking element 9 for masking successive portions of the luminous circumferential ring, or border, 3 on the dial 2. Due to the fact that the contrast between the hands or pointers is so marked, relatively inexpensive luminous material may be used upon the dial 2 and hour-hand 6.

Referring to Figure 3 of the drawing, I have shown a modified form of the invention as comprising a broken circumferential luminous ring, or border, 4 in lieu of the continuous ring 3 of Figure 1. In addition, the minute-hand is generally shown at I0 as comprising a substantially disk-shaped transparent segment in lieu of the substantially rectangularly shaped segment 8 of Figure 1. The non-luminous masking element 9 is, however, unmodified.

Another modification of the device of the invention is disclosed in Figure 4. According to this embodiment, the indicator dial 2 is provided with circumferentially arranged indicia I2 and a centrally disposed disk-shaped coating l3 of luminous material. One of the pointers, or hands, of the instrument is indicated at M as extending slightly over the periphery of the centrally disposed disk-shaped coating of luminous material. This hand I4 is non-luminous and masks successive portions of the coating 13 in its movement thereover. The other hand of the instrument is indicated generally at l 5 as comprising a transparent body portion which is slightly longer than the non-luminous hand l4 and carries on its radial extremity a luminous element l6.

It will be readily understood that a sharp contrast is provided by the non-luminous hand I 4 against the background of the disk-shaped coating l3 of luminous material. In addition, it is next to impossible to confuse the luminous element [6 on the long transparent hand IS with the nonluminous and shorter hand 14. The circumferentially arranged indicia 12 may, if desired, be coated with luminous material, but this is not absolutely essential.

While I have shown and described several specific embodiments of my invention, it will be understood that I do not wish to be limited exactly thereto, since various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of my invention, as defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. An indicator face for clocks and the like comprising, in combination, a dial, a substantial body of luminous material on said dial, a hand adapted to move with respect to said dial, said hand being luminous at least in part, and a non-luminous hand, said last named handbeing adapted to move'with respect to said dial and mask successive portions of the body of luminous material thereon.

2. An indicator face for clocks and the like comprising, in combination, a dial, a body of luminous material on said dial, said body being constructed and arranged so that spaced portions thereof correspond to the indicia markings of an instrument, a luminous hand adapted to move Wlth respect to said dial, and a non-luminous hand, said last named hand being adapted to be moved with respect to said dial and mask successive portions of the body of luminous material thereon. a

3. An indicator face for clocks and the like comprising, in combination, a dial, a body 'of luminous material on said dial, said body being constructed and arranged so that spaced portions thereof correspond to the indicia markings of an instrument, a luminous hand adapted to move with respect to said dial, a substantially transparent hand which is likewise adapted to move with respect to said dial, and means on the outward end of said substantially transparent hand for masking successive portions of 15 said body of luminous material in its movement.

4. An indicator face for clocks and the like comprising, in combination, a dial, a substantial body of luminous material on said dial, said dial being provided with indicia which is peripherally arranged "with respect to said body of luminous material, a non-luminous hand adapted to move with respect to said dial and mask successive portions of the body of luminous material thereon, a substantially transparent hand which is likewise adapted to move with respect to said dial, said last named hand extending beyond the periphery of said body of luminous material, and luminous material on the end of said last named hand.

BOLTON CALDWELL MOISE, JR. 

